* Teammates and Project Manager are helpful* Feedback, you always know where you stand* Travel and see different places and industries* Structured learning for new hires* Pay is driven by performance* Company paid benefits* Beach time (Paid time at home when not on a project)

Cons

-Long days-Travel: Airport delays can make your weekend short, would not suggest for people with young children.-No matching 401K

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Changes are happening, but there is a need to speed it up. There are still people hanging on to the old instead of focusing on the new. This is holding us back in some respects.

If you are single, then you will love the mobility to get out of "dodge" every week.

If you are married and miserable, then you will love the mobility to get out of "dodge" every week.

If you love being worked 60+ hours week after week, then you will love getting the day to day job @ DB&A.

If you love being told that all of your experience in the professional workforce is invalid, then you will love DB&A.

If you love being made to feel like nothing is ever good enough, then you will feel at home.

If you love going from project to project and experiencing the same screw ups because nobody in the company is aware of the concept of retrospective analysis, then sign up today!

If you enjoy being demoralized and humiliated by "managers" who have virtually no experience outside of DB&A, then let the fun begin.

If you love last minute requests that take several hours because they are vague and love to know that all the hard work was for not because the "PM" decided he wanted to go another direction at the last minute, then boy are there fun times ahead for you!

If you love working for a company who tells the client their managers are ineffective because they hired the best "wrench turner" and in a very hypocritical manner turns around and promotes the best consultant to Project Manager, then don't delay applying for one more second!!!

Cons

Although i'm pretty sure i've covered them in the Pro's above...lets just reiterate in case the readers didn't quite catch on...

Arguably the most frustrating part of the job is the hypocrisy of the organization. DB&A will go into any organization and claim that their management team is ineffective because the company simply promoted the fastest widget maker or the most tenured widget maker and that DB&A will be there to teach them about management. In all reality-virtually everyone that is at the Project Manager level or above, is in the position for the same exact reason. You have Project Managers with zero PM training/knowledge; you have "Chiefs" that have spent their entire career at DB&A and are constantly wearing horse blinders out of sheer ignorance to the outside professional world. You have senior staff that is senior, not because of their knowledge, education, or experience...but because they have lasted longer than the other consultants.

The management team will try and justify the extremely long days as necessary-but in reality, it's all a farce. Project after project you will begin to notice that it is the same exact scenarios that come up and force the long hours and "emergent" requests from the PM/Chief. If anyone actually decided to take a step back and learn from this- what a world of difference it would make!

Don't even get me started on "Analysis." The name is a bit of a misnomer. If you actually turn in a true analysis of an organization and it isn't loaded with employee screw ups and perceived bad behavior then you will be labeled as an ineffective consultant. God forbid that during an analysis with an actual client we tell them they actually have some good resources and good processes. Oh, and if you do try to turn in a good report, then be prepared to have it changed and then have someone tell you that you don't know what you are doing because you didn't manufacture a fake crisis that cost the client eleventy billion dollars in annualized cost.

That makes a good transition into the "savings" evaluation which is a direct input into your performance. The savings are constantly manipulated manually by the PM and the Chief in order to give the client some warm and fuzzy feelings that a difference is being made. If i have to give anyone some solid advice-learn this and learn how it applies to your area. Negative savings can be "manufactured" to make you look as if you are not doing your job. How they continually get sign off from clients is a complete mystery to me.

Advice to ManagementAdvice

Clean house. You will never change until you get rid of the waste at the top that continues to instill those same practices on everyone below.